Wayne Winsley was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and currently resides in Naugartuck, Conn. When Winsley was 13, he said his great-grandmother could no longer care for him due to her advanced age and poor health and he was placed in an orphanage.

Winsley served in the U.S. Navy as petty officer.

Winsley has worked as a private investigator and a broadcaster. He was the host of his own talk show in Danbury.

In 2003, he was elected president of the Danbury chapter of the NAACP.

In 2010, he served as communications director and spokesman for the unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign of Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and as coalition chairman for the unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign of Tom Foley.

Winsley and his wife, April, have three children.

Wayne Winsley, a Republican, is challenging Democratic 11-term U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro in the November 2012 general election.

DeLauro has long enjoyed a safe seat in the heavily Democratic 3rd Congressional District. She had raised $872,000 by the end of June 2012, compared to less than $25,000 by Winsley.

Winsley contends the 2010 health care reform law backed by President Barack Obama erodes freedom with its mandate requiring health insurance. He voww to fight to repeal the law if elected.

When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in June 2012, he wrote, "I was very tempted to title this release Death of a Nation, but the patriotic optimist within me still draws breath despite how belabored those breaths may be."

DeLauro has championed the law, saying it provides new consumer protections and will ensure that Americans have access to quality, affordable health care while reducing long-term health care costs.

On his Facebook page, Winsley lists the National Rifle Association as one of his likes, and he has spoken out strongly in favor of gun rights, drawing another sharp difference with his election opponent.

In June 2012, Winsley spoke at a protest in New Haven against a federal government mandate to require employers to provide health insurance that includes birth control for workers. Some faith leaders have objected to the plan because it included most religious nonprofits such as hospitals and colleges.

Obama has offered a compromise in which insurers would bear the cost of the birth control instead of religious employers. But Roman Catholic bishops have said the prospective new rules don't do enough to protect religious liberty.